The Quarto Group (LSE: QRT) is a global illustrated book publishing group founded in 1976. It is domiciled in the US and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Quarto sells books across 50 countries and in 39 languages through a variety of traditional and non-traditional channels. Quarto employs over 400 people in 11 offices in London, Brighton, Bristol, New York City, Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle, California, Hong Kong and Sydney.

The group was established by co-founders Laurence Orbach and Robert Morley and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1986.[4] Laurence Orbach was Chairman and CEO until November 2012, when he was replaced as Chairman by Tim Chadwick and Marcus Leaver as CEO.[5]

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Contents

History

The Quarto Group was founded by Bob Morley, Michael Jackson and Laurence Orbach in the early 1970s and was finally established as The Quarto Group in 1976.[6] In 1986, Quarto listed on the London stock exchange.[7]

By the late 1990s, Quarto had acquired three new imprints, Rotovision, Book Sales Inc and Rockport Publishers and founded another four imprints, Quarto Children's Books, Quintet and Aurum Press that published health, lifestyle and children’s books. The group expanded further in the US – with the addition of Book Sales, Rockport Publishers, Walter Foster, Creative Publishing International, Motorbooks, and more recently, Cool Springs Press. In the UK, Quarto grew by acquiring Jacqui Small, Frances Lincoln and Wide Eyed Editions.[7][8].[8][9] By the 2000s, The Quarto Group had increased imprints and genres, along with this, a steady increase in its share value.[9] In August 2011, The Quarto Group acquired independent UK book publisher Frances Lincoln for £4.5 million.[10]

In 2012, Marcus Leaver took over from Laurence Orbach as Group CEO [11] and in the same year, the group made a profit of $11.4 million (£7.3 million) on revenue of $181 million (£116 million).[12] Since then, the group has pursued a stated strategy of growing both organically and through judicious acquisitions, while constantly focusing on operational efficiencies.

With increasing profit, 2013 saw a restructure of The Quarto Group by creating and renaming four distinct businesses:[13] Quarto Publishing UK, Quarto Publishing US, Quarto Publishing International Co-editions and Books & Gifts Direct. By 2014, the group had started two new children's imprints: Wide Eyed Editions and words & pictures,[14] and acquired small world creations[14] This helped the increase in share price by 60% since 2010.[15] This helped the increase in share prices by 60% since 2010.[16] In 2015 Quarto acquired Ivy Press and Ivy Kids for £1.5m and continued its expansion [17]

In 2017, Quarto implemented a new organizational structure, moving away from geographic business divisions and encouraging imprints to be run as independent businesses with creative, commercial and financial oversight from the centre. The group has established a central platform that includes finance, operations, sales, marketing and foreign rights sales and that services all 48 imprints.[18]

That same year, Quarto sold its last two non-publishing businesses – Books & Gifts Direct (Australia/New Zealand) and Regent Publishing Services (Hong Kong) – and is now solely focused on its core publishing expertise.[19]

International Publishing Partnerships

The Quarto Group has launched a number of foreign-language imprints through international partnerships with foreign publishers. These include:

Quarto Editora The Quarto Editora imprint was launched in Brazil in 2014 through an international publishing partnership with Brasil Franchising and their publishing business Editora Nobel. Quarto Editora publishes in categories such as cookery, beauty and self-help. Nobel Editora distributes the books through its franchises and main book trade channels. Kalimat Quarto Kalimat Quarto was launched in 2016 as an international publishing partnership with Sharjah-based Kalimat Group. The imprint publishes books in Arabic and distributes them throughout the Middle East and North Africa.[20]

Quarto Iberoamericana Announced in May 2017, Quarto Iberoamericana is Quarto's Spanish language imprint launched in partnership with Argentina-based publisher Catapulta Editores S.L. The imprint publishes 20 books a year with the first six books, launching in Autumn 2017, in adult categories such as cookery, lifestyle and spirituality. Catapulta Editores will be responsible for sales and distribution in Spain, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Quarto is expected to announce more partners to distribute the books in the rest of Latin America and North America in the near future.[21]